Mark 1:4-6, 9-10
John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life ..... At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him.
In the midst of all the on-going drama in our world right now – with worsening COVID numbers and the political upheaval in our American society – I’ve chosen to take a week out and check in with where we are in the lectionary cycle – where we are in the life of Jesus’ world.
We hear a lot about John the Baptist at this time of year because once we are past the nativity stories, we always start the yearly cycle with the first story of Jesus’ adult life -- the story of his baptism. Whether it’s a long version or a short one, it is always where we start the story because it is where Jesus first appears on the public scene.
Unfortunately, what we hear about John is always in little snippets — depending on which gospel we’re reading, and we rarely get any cohesive narrative in a time-line order — just bits and pieces scattered here and there.
John’s story begins when his barren, elderly parents — Zechariah, a priest, and Elizabeth—miraculously turn up pregnant in their old age, accompanied by prophecies that the child to come will be “great in the sight of the Lord.” As it happens, Elizabeth has a young cousin named Mary, who five months later, also miraculously turns up pregnant (we all know this part of the story.) So Jesus and John are cousins.
Long before Jesus ever showed up on the public scene, John was out preaching a message of repentance and drawing crowds to come and be cleansed in baptism. He preached that the people needed to repent and be cleansed because the one they had awaited for so very long – the one whose sandals John claimed to be unworthy to unlace – that one was very near now.
One day, while John was baptizing, out at the Jordan River, Jesus showed up, virtually out of nowhere, since he had not yet begun to teach and no one really knew him. After some back-and-forth between them, John baptized Jesus. From this point, Jesus begins his public ministry, and John ends up in jail.
John was already in trouble with the authorities (that is, the Herodian family who were the local stand-ins for the Romans) for condemning the marriage of the second Herod to his brother’s divorced wife, Herodias, (while in Mosaic Law it would have been legal for Herod to marry his brother’s widow, had the brother died, it was not lawful for Herod – who was divorced himself – to marry his brother’s divorced wife.)
Herod and Herodias both hated John for calling them on this unlawful union, but Herod was afraid to act against John in case he really was sent by God. Unfortunately, Herod, being apparently, a dirty old man, also had an unnatural attraction to his young step-daughter, and she and her mother set him up to promise her anything she wanted — and she declared what she really wanted was John’s head on a platter. Hence, John in jail.
While this was going on Jesus began traveling all around and teaching and building himself a name as a teacher and healer. John, meanwhile, while in prison, sent some of his followers to go ask Jesus if he was that “one they have waited for” — that is, the Messiah. Jesus answers them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.....”
Not long after this, Herod finally gave in to family pressure and beheaded John, but John had received his answer. His calling had always been to prepare the way for the one who would come after him – not to be the star, himself -- and now he knew that one was here. His work was finished.
Three brief years later, Jesus would follow his cousin as another victim of death by the reigning authorities. These two cousins — one to prepare the way, one to be The Way — between them, changed the world to come.
And that is why John the Baptist is important for us to know about. The world always needs its true prophets – the ones who remind us to look ahead and prepare ourselves for what is to come.
We hear a lot about John the Baptist at this time of year because once we are past the nativity stories, we always start the yearly cycle with the first story of Jesus’ adult life -- the story of his baptism. Whether it’s a long version or a short one, it is always where we start the story because it is where Jesus first appears on the public scene.
Unfortunately, what we hear about John is always in little snippets — depending on which gospel we’re reading, and we rarely get any cohesive narrative in a time-line order — just bits and pieces scattered here and there.
John’s story begins when his barren, elderly parents — Zechariah, a priest, and Elizabeth—miraculously turn up pregnant in their old age, accompanied by prophecies that the child to come will be “great in the sight of the Lord.” As it happens, Elizabeth has a young cousin named Mary, who five months later, also miraculously turns up pregnant (we all know this part of the story.) So Jesus and John are cousins.
Long before Jesus ever showed up on the public scene, John was out preaching a message of repentance and drawing crowds to come and be cleansed in baptism. He preached that the people needed to repent and be cleansed because the one they had awaited for so very long – the one whose sandals John claimed to be unworthy to unlace – that one was very near now.
One day, while John was baptizing, out at the Jordan River, Jesus showed up, virtually out of nowhere, since he had not yet begun to teach and no one really knew him. After some back-and-forth between them, John baptized Jesus. From this point, Jesus begins his public ministry, and John ends up in jail.
John was already in trouble with the authorities (that is, the Herodian family who were the local stand-ins for the Romans) for condemning the marriage of the second Herod to his brother’s divorced wife, Herodias, (while in Mosaic Law it would have been legal for Herod to marry his brother’s widow, had the brother died, it was not lawful for Herod – who was divorced himself – to marry his brother’s divorced wife.)
Herod and Herodias both hated John for calling them on this unlawful union, but Herod was afraid to act against John in case he really was sent by God. Unfortunately, Herod, being apparently, a dirty old man, also had an unnatural attraction to his young step-daughter, and she and her mother set him up to promise her anything she wanted — and she declared what she really wanted was John’s head on a platter. Hence, John in jail.
While this was going on Jesus began traveling all around and teaching and building himself a name as a teacher and healer. John, meanwhile, while in prison, sent some of his followers to go ask Jesus if he was that “one they have waited for” — that is, the Messiah. Jesus answers them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.....”
Not long after this, Herod finally gave in to family pressure and beheaded John, but John had received his answer. His calling had always been to prepare the way for the one who would come after him – not to be the star, himself -- and now he knew that one was here. His work was finished.
Three brief years later, Jesus would follow his cousin as another victim of death by the reigning authorities. These two cousins — one to prepare the way, one to be The Way — between them, changed the world to come.
And that is why John the Baptist is important for us to know about. The world always needs its true prophets – the ones who remind us to look ahead and prepare ourselves for what is to come.
RSS Feed